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SHIRT. No. 371,154. Patented 001;. 4, 1887.

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(:No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. I. P. TURNER.

SHIRT. No. 371,154. Patented Oct. 4,1887.

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LIP. TURNER.

SHIRT.

Patented Oct. 4, 1887.

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SHIRT.

No.3'71,154. I PatentedOot. 4,1881.

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

ISAAC P. TURNER, OF TROY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ANDREXV L. ORAXV- FORD AND LAURA F. TURNER, BOTH OF SAME PLACE. I

SHIRT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,154, dated October 4, 1887. Application filed July 19, 1887. Serial No. 244,714. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC P. TURNER, a resident of the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shirts; and I do, hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, that will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several figures therein.

My invention relates to improvements in shirts; and it consists of the novel construction and combination of parts, hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

The objects of the invention are made to appear in connection with the following description.

Figure l of the drawings is a front view of a yokeless shirt, showing my improved means of extending the neck-opening in front. Fig. 2 is a back view of a yoke-shirt, showing my improved means of extending the neckopening in the back. Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the diagonally-cut body ply detached. Fig.

4 is a View in elevation of the overlapping piece detached. Fig. 5 is a view in elevation of a detached body ply of a shirt as heretofore constructed, showing the neck-opening g and slitted extension S. Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 illustrate modified forms of construction.

Shirts are usually formed by joining two body plies, called front and back, at their sides by side seams and at their tops, when formed of separate pieces of fabric, either directly or to the opposite edges of an intervening yoke, a central neck-opening being cut partly from one or both of the plies, and as heretofore constructed the neck-opening has been enlarged or extended by a central slit cut down one of the plies, to permit of easily putting on and taking off the shirt, substantially as shown at S in Fig. 5, Abeing one of the body plies and g the neck-opening cut therein. In such forms of construction the slit S is likely to tear in use, so as to extend farther into the body of the shirt-ply, and the opening formed by the slit is likely to gape with each movement of the wearer. Various forms of stays, gussets, and facings have been employed to remedy these defects, many of which are expensive to manufacture and cumbersome to the wearer, and all require buttons to keep the opening even partially closed, while the buttons are easily torn oif in laundering the shirts.

One of the objects of my invention is to avoid the necessity of the slit and the attendant stays and buttons.

In Fig. l I have shown an under-garment, which usually opens in front. A is the front body ply and B the back body ply. The plies are united down their opposite sides by the side seams, b, and to the sleeves D by the seams b, which may for the purpose of this case be called side seams, as they may be a continnation of the side seam, b. The lines I) also represent the outlines of the sleeve-openings.

The upper end of the ply A is secured to the upper end of ply B'from the neck to the sleeveopening on one side of the neck by the shoulder'seam a, the shoulder part of the ply on the other side of the neckopening being cut away along the diagonal line J, extending from the neck-opening to a point at or near the lower part of the sleeve-opening, as shown in Fig. 3 and elsewhere. The piece 0 (shown detached in Fig. 4) is cut to correspond in form with the upper part of plyA, having the diagonal edge J This piece is secured along its upper edge to the top of ply B, as shown in Fig. 1, by the shoulder-seam a, and along one side to the sleeve by the seam b, the lower edge and opposite side, G, overlapping the ply A in such a manner that the two diagonal edges J and J are about right-angular to each other, the opposite side, 0, of the piece being included in -the side seam, b, which unites the sleeve to ply A, as shown in Fig. 1, or in the side seam, b, which unites the two plies, as shown in Fig. 2; or, when desired, the side 0' of the piece may terminate in a point and not extend to the side seam, as shown by dotted line J in Fig. 1. The lower edge of the piece is then stitched to the ply A by the line of stitching G. It is obvious that there is no slit ICO to tear, and the overlapping piece, being secured to both sides of the shirt, is held firmly against the ply A when in use, making it impossible to present a gaping opening and rendering buttons unnecessary. Theoverlapping piece also affords an additional protection to the lungs, whether on the back or in front, and upon thin under-garments wholly absorbs the perspiration of the body before it can reach the bosom of the outer shirt.

When it is desired to have the extension in the back ply of a yoke-shirt, the overlapping piece is secured by the shoulder-seam, as before explained, which connects it with the intervening yoke E, as shown in Fig. 2, instead of directly to the ply on the other side of the shirt.

When desired, abutton, d, may be employed, as shown in Fig. 2, on the yoke or in the collar-band F.

In Fig. 3 I have indicated by dotted lines e the portion which would be cut away from the body ply as ordinarily cut in applying my invention.

It is obvious thata larger or smaller portion may be cut away, as desired, and that the diagonal line J may be curved with different degrees of curvature.

It is apparent that the neck-opening may be extended both in front and rear in the same shirt. Such a form of construction would be especially desirable in undergarments as a double protection to the lungs.

In the construction of under-garments the front and back plies are frequently one piece of fabric folded together and closed at the sides by side seams extending to points near the fold, between which points and the fold open ings are left for the arms, a central portion of the fold being cut out to form the neckopening.

I have shown in Fig. 6 the two plies in one piece of fabric, as described, laid out flat as they would appear before the sides are seamed together, the foldline being indicated by the dotted line 00 0c.

By cutting away one of the shoulder portions, as before described, from each ply we produce an opening in one side of the fabric, bounded by the neck-opening g and the dotted lines a n. The double piece 0 G is then superimposed upon the plies, as shown and before described, and stitched along its lower edges to the respective plies, the upper portion of the piece partly covering the place occupied by the piece cut away and being secured in the sleeve or side seam.

The front and back plies of the shirt or other garment may be formed of as many pieces as desired without departing from my invention, and I have shown in Fig. 8 a shirt-ply formed of two pieces, A and A. I have in the same figure shown the piece 0 superimposed in its proper positiomrelatively to the upper part of the ply, to be stitched thereto. The three parts A, A and C may all be united by asingle seam.

In Fig. 9 I have shown the single piece of fabric forming the body plies provided with a single diagonal downward cut, extending from the neck-opening through the side of the ply to the side or sleeve scam, I), which forms the diagonal edge J, to be left loose on the ply A. The overlapping piece 0, with the diagonal edge J, Fig. 10, is then stitched to the shirt by theseam K, as shown in Fig. 11, the lower edge being stitched to the ply, as before described, the edge J, as in each of the other cases shown, being left loose and unstitched. It is obvious that if a similar out were made in ply B, as indicated by dotted line 'i, a portion would be cutout similar to that shown in, Fig. 6, and that by stitching a piece 0 like that shown in Fig. 10 upon the cut edges of the part out out it would becomethe double piece 0 0 shown in Fig. 7.

I do not desire to limit the scope of my invention to shirts, as it may be applied to outer or other garments.

It should be borne in mind that the out forming the diagonal edge J and extended neckopening does not terminate in the body of a ply or section thereof, leaving an end to be stayed or tear, but extends through the ply or section thereof, to terminate in a seam uniting two or more parts of the shirt, substantially as shown, and as line J in Fig. 8.

I prefer to cut the body ply and overlapping piece in such a manner as to produce a diagonal edge J J; but I do not wish to be limited to any particular line of direction for extending the neck-opening, and what I have called diagonal edges may be properly called loose edges, since they are allowed to remain loose and uustitched from the neckopening to the seam in which they terminate, which isaseam employed to join the body ply to some other part or portion of the shirt independently of the neck-opening, and may for the purposes of this case be called a terminal seam.

WVhat I claim as new, by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a shirt having a loose edge on a body ply forming one side of the neclcopening and extending from said openinglaterally to a terminal seam beyond the opposite side of the neck-opening, of an overlapping piece having a loose edge forming the opposite side of the neck-opening and extending from the opening laterally across the loose edge of the body ply to a terminal seam beyond the first-mentioned side of the neck-opening, the other edges of the piece being secured to the contiguous portion of the shirt, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, of the shoulder parts and desire to secure with ashirt having one of a body ply cut away on a diagonal line extending from the neckopening downwardly and sidewise, of an overlapping piece, similar in form to the remaining upper part of the cut ply, superimposed indicated by dotted IOO ICS

upon said part and stitched thereto along its In testimony whereof I have hereunto set lower edge, with their diagonal edges unmy hand this 16th day of July, 1887.

stitched and about right-angular to each other,

the upper portion of the piece partly occupy- ISAAC I. TURNER. 5 ing the place of the out-out section and se- Y cured to the contiguous portions of the shirt, Witnesses:

substantially as described, and for the pur- GEO.A'. MOSHER, poses set forth. l CHAS. L. ALDEN. 

